Katy Perry steps up bid to buy convent as she accuses rival bidder of ‘taking advantage of nuns’

Singer is attempting to turn the Los Angeles property into her family home

Katy Perry is taking legal action against a rival buyer who is stopping her in her bid to buy a former convent in Los Angeles, which she hopes to turn into a family home.

A complicated dispute has arisen over the ownership of the eight-acre property. Perry thought that she would be able to buy the former convent from the archdiocese of Los Angeles, run by Archbishop Jose Gomez, for $14.5 million (£9.3 million). But the five nuns who live in the property say that Perry would be an unsuitable owner and want to sell it to businesswoman Dana Hollister instead.

Now, Perry has accused Hollister of taking “advantage of vulnerable, elderly nuns, who she malevolently convinced to oppose the Roman Catholic Church”. The lawsuit names both the archdiocese and the nuns as defendants, describing them as “victims” of Hollister’s. However, no direct complaint from the nuns has been filed.

Approached by The New York Times, representatives of Hollister declined to comment.

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Los Angeles Superior Court judge James Chalfant recently deferred a decision on who owns the property where the five nuns of The Sisters Of The Most Holy And Immaculate Heart Of The Blessed Virgin Mary reside. Judge Chalfant told the archdiocese’s lawyers: “You’re not selling to Katy Perry any time soon,” adding that he believed the ownership dispute could take two years to resolve.

The convent used to house over 100 nuns, but now just five nuns aged 77 to 88 live at the secluded hilltop estate. Perry has said that she would turn the convent into a family property where she would live with her mother, Mary Perry, and grandmother, Ann Hudson.